Cadence: Of Lizards and Hounds

Tell us what you thought about the March 2010 issue.
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Robert_Moriyama
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The hounds

Post by Robert_Moriyama »

Jaimie wrote:...I did have some issues with the plot. The hounds seemed a bit misplaced. I didn't understand how they-- or Aaron or Former, for that matter-- fit into the big picture. I believe there was an overarching theme that tied everything together. My instincts tell me that Aaron and the hounds acted as a guardian for the eggs. The weird obsidian mirror that acted as an extradimensional storage device hinted at grander things. However, the theme isn't alluded to enough, forcing me to fill in too many gaps. I found the storyline as a result to be disjointed...
Having read Evangeline Walton's novels based on the Welsh Mabinogion a long time ago, I recognized Aaron's surname as being from Welsh mythology. In fact, it turns out that his FIRST name is also appropriate:


http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Annwn

"Annwn or Annwfn (Middle Welsh Annwvn, sometimes inaccurately written Annwyn, Annwyfn or Annwfyn) was the Otherworld in Welsh mythology. Ruled by Arawn, or much later by Gwyn ap Nudd, it was essentially a world of delights and eternal youth where disease is absent and food is ever-abundant. It later became Christianised and identified with the land of souls that had departed this world."

"In the First Branch of the Mabinogi, entitled Pwyll, Prince of Dyfed, the eponymous prince offends Arawn, ruler of Annwn, by baiting his hunting hounds on a stag that Arawn's dogs had brought down. In recompense he exchanges places with Arawn for a year and defeats Arawn's enemy Hafgan. Meanwhile, Arawn rules Dyfed. During this year, Pwyll does not sleep with Arawn's wife, earning himself gratitude from Arawn. On his return, Pwyll becomes known by the title Penn Annwn, "Head (or Ruler) of Annwn."

So if Aaron Annwn is the ruler of a paradise or otherworld (and the rules in his back yard sure don't seem like the ones we're used to in ours), then it is only natural that he has a pack of hunting hounds.
You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.

Jack London (1876-1916)
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